China to host 2020 World Heritage Committee meeting

The Unesco has announced that the Chinese city of Fuzhou will host the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2020.

The decision concluded the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan.

During this year's session, the Committee inscribed 29 new sites on the World Heritage List -- one in Africa, two in the Arab States, 10 in the Asia Pacific region, 15 in Europe and North America and one in Latin America.

The Indian city of Jaipur, popularly tagged the 'pink city', also figured in the World Heritage List, inviting greetings from across the country and its political leadership.

The World Heritage List now features 1,121 sites in 167 countries.

The Committee approved the removal from the List of World Heritage in Danger of the sites of Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, Chile and Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem, Palestine.

One property has been added to the List of World Heritage in Danger: the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California, Mexico.

Several major archaeological sites were also added to the list, including the Dilmun Burial Mounds (Bahrain), the Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso and the iconic site of Babylon (Iraq), once the centre of the neo-Babylonian Empire and the site of the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. IANS